Jesse Velders

Jesse Velders is on the DVC Baseball team this season, as a freshman from Hilversum, Netherlands. He plans on playing Baseball to try and transfer to a D1 college to play more. His backup is to go back to the Netherlands and play baseball out there.

How is it coming from the Netherlands to play baseball in America?

It is a really interesting experience because this is very different. Baseball is not that big in the Netherlands. There are good baseball players on the level, so it is pretty good here. 

What got you into playing baseball back in the Netherlands?

I always wanted to play soccer when I was little because everyone played soccer at school. My dad used to play baseball too, he told me you got to try out one baseball practice first. After that I was just in love. It was all my dad’s fault.

Was it hard to adjust to baseball out here compared to the Netherlands?

I think it is very different, you have the coaching staff that is different from back home. Out here it’s all about winning games, it is very strict. The coaches just want to win games, they don’t care if your feelings get hurt. Back home it is more like a soft way of coaching which has changed.

The level of play is also different. Like the pitching here is really good.

How big of an influence is your dad on how you play your game today?

That is a tough question. He is not here but he visited like a month ago and I always play good when my parents are here. It is nice to have them here, after the game, evaluate the game, it is so much fun. He may not be the best player but he got me into the sport and I am very thankful of him.

Since your dad is not here all the time, who is here to push you and improve your game?

I do a lot of it myself because I know what I’m doing wrong but the coaches really help me and we got some pretty good players on the team too and they tell me things to work on, like you can do this, maybe try this, so it is really nice to have a good team.